Saturday, August 20, 2011

August 20

“Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence. In other words, it is war minus the shooting.”

With limited power comes limited responsibility - WHS, 417am.com: "One of the more insidious myths facing the United States, at least from a public diplomacy standpoint, is the idea that everything horrible in the world happened because Americans made it happen. People believe this because they can't imagine that the US could desire an outcome and then lack the capacity to achieve that outcome. The impression of American omnipotence

in world affairs has led to a lot of very bad things being pinned on Americans. In the end, I'd rather remind people that the US can be one of the good guys than continue to pretend that the US always gets what it wants." Image from

abused a foreign-exchange program to put them to work packing chocolate and stashed them in overpriced company housing that leaves them only $40 to $140 for a week's work. ... ... [T]he Hershey student guestworkers [say they] found themselves packing chocolates for the Hershey's Chocolate Company at the Eastern Distribution Center ... in Palmyra, Pa., supervised by Exel North American Logistics Inc., SHS Onsite Solutions, and

Cultural Exchange Travel USA (CETUSA) . ... The students say the companies violates OSHA regulations, the Fair Labor Standards Act, the National Labor Relations Act, failed to provide cultural activities, threatened their health, safety and welfare, and that the entire experience 'brings notoriety and disrepute to the Exchange Visitor program.' They ask the State Department to supervise participants in the J-1 program more closely, and suspend, investigate and revoke CETUSA's permission to participate in it." Top image from;below image from

What is YES? - nasir-fashion.blogspot.com: "The Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) Program was established in October, 2002. The program is funded by the U.S. Department of State and sponsored by the Bureau of Educational & Cultural Affairs (ECA)

to provide scholarships for high school students (15-17 years) from countries with significant Muslim populations to spend up to one academic year in the U.S. Students live with host families, attend high school, engage in activities to learn about American society and values, acquire leadership skills, and help educate Americans about their countries and cultures. In 2007, YES Abroad was established to provide a similar experience for U.S. students (15-19 years) in selected YES countries." Image from article

From ping-pong diplomacy to basket-brawl: What the Chinese-Georgetown fight reveals - Brook Larmer, Washington Post: "[A]t Beijing’s Olympic basketball stadium on Thursday night ... the Georgetown Hoyas tipped off against the Bayi Rockets, the Chinese army team. It was supposed to be a goodwill game, a diplomatic give-and-go. The Hoyas’ tour, timed to coincide with a visit by Vice President Biden, was meant to be a sporting diversion to the tensions between the world’s biggest economies. A State Department official had even urged the Hoyas to see themselves as cultural ambassadors, heirs to the ping-pong diplomats. Nobody would blame the college players for believing at the opening tip that the evening would end much like the prior evening’s game: with hugs and warm feelings of cross-cultural camaraderie for their Chinese counterparts. ... [but it did] go so wrong, with the exhibition degenerating into all-out hostility early in the fourth quarter — sparking a bench-clearing,

chair-heaving, game-ending brawl . ... Universities, like the NBA, have long-term interests in China’s market: They want to trumpet their brand and, perhaps, recruit the next Yao Ming. [T]he days of ping-pong diplomacy are long gone . ... It’s now competition first, friendship second." Image from

Basketbrawl in China - Charles Lane, Washington Post: "[A]thletic competition can be an especially bad way to get people to like each other, because--it’s competition!"

Yes, the public 'Diplomacy' in the field ... has made ​​moves recently a team of Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Çok iyi çalışan bir ekip var. I have a team that works very well. Ama genel olarak bu tüm devletin özümsemesi gereken bir yaklaşım. But in general this approach should absorb all of the state. Gençlerle olacak bir konu bu. This issue will be with young people. Bu konu tam dijital çağın gereği olan bir konu. This issue is a subject which is due to complete the digital age." Image, presumably of Kaleağası, from article

Social Climate: Polling for peace - Mahar Mangahas, Philippine Daily Inquirer: "Peace-process polling. Opinion polling in direct support of a peace process has been carefully used in a number of countries. The World Association for Public Opinion Research is doing guidelines for peace polling, in cooperation with the world’s leading practitioner, Colin Irwin (www.peacepolls.org), author of 'The Peace Process in Northern Ireland' (Palgrave Macmillan, 2002). Dr. Irwin’s 2009 report, 'Israel and Palestine: public opinion, public diplomacy and peace-making,' (www.OneVoiceMovement.org), says that, aside from Northern Ireland, Israel and Palestine, '[t]hese methods have been used with considerable success in Macedonia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Kosovo, Serbia, Kashmir and Sri Lanka. One of the key features of these methods is to ask the people living in and through a conflict what they believe are the problems that lay at the heart of their conflict, what the ‘solutions’ to these ‘problems’ might be and then to test these perceptions in both their own community and the society of their reported adversary.'”

http://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/textile-news/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=102256 - fibre2fashion.com: "IFAI [Industrial Fabrics Association International] is proud to announce Greggory Crouch, Consul General Barcelona, will be providing the Welcome Address at AT Europe '11. Greggory Crouch has served as Consul General at the U.S. Consulate General Barcelona since August 25, 2009. His previous overseas assignments include Consul

for Public Affairs at the U.S. Consulate General in Hamburg, Germany (2006-2007); Press Attaché and Embassy Spokesman at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan (2004-2005); Director of the American Center and Consul for Public Affairs at the U.S. Consulate in Fukuoka, Japan (1995-2000); and Press Attaché and Embassy Spokesman at the U.S. Embassy in Oslo, Norway (1991-1993). In Washington Greg served as the Senior Deputy Director in the Office of Press and Public Diplomacy in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs (2007-2009), Desk Officer in the Office of Japanese Affairs (2000-2002), and Public Diplomacy Officer for Austria, Germany and Switzerland (2002-2004)." Crouch image from article

livin n’ learnin, dc - britbybee.wordpress.com: "Here ends my 10-week adventure workin’ for the federal government. I’ve learned a lot, including that global warming is certainly alive and well in Washington DC. I didn’t give much detail to begin with so here it is: I worked for the bureau of International Information Programs, which is not your typical State Department bureau in that many artists, writers, translators, and other creative types work here. IIP’s responsibility is to communicate with foreign media and younger audiences through a wide range of outreach materials published in English, Arabic, Chinese, Portuguese, French, Persian, Russian, and Spanish. In addition to this,

IIP provides info support to U.S. embassies in over 140 countries. ... About britbyb I'm a student, currently working toward my M.A. in international communication, in Denver . ... I'm on a quest to work in public diplomacy and/or international education someday (maybe soon?) but until then, I'm striving to get the most out of my time as a poor grad student." Image from article

He graduated from the National Research University Higher School of Economics (NRUHS) with a major in World Economy and Political Affairs. ... He has also worked for various NGOs dealing with public diplomacy and international relations on the world stage." Alentyev image from article

Journalists who engage in war propaganda must be held accountable - Thierry Meyssan, theuglytruth.wordpress.com: The war propaganda has entered a new phase, involving the coordinated action of satellite TV stations. CNN, France24, the BBC and Al Jazeera have become instruments of disinformation used to demonize governments and justify armed aggressions. These practices are illegal

under international law and the impunity of the perpetrators must be stopped. The current processing of the information on Libya and Syria has marked a turning point in the history of war propaganda in that it uses new ways that have taken the international public by surprise. Four powers – the United States, France, the UK and Qatar – have combined their technical means to intoxicate the “international community”. These are mainly CNN (which, although private, interacts with the Pentagon’s psychological warfare unit), France24, the BBC and Al Jazeera. Image from

Chinese People Should Listen to Their Hearts, Not the Propaganda of the Chinese Communist Party - Rebiya Kadeer, President, World Uyghur Congress, Huffington Post: There are two choices before the Chinese people to solve the Uyghur problem. The first is to continue the repression of Uyghurs under the pretext of state security, and as a consequence to continue to legitimize a government that abuses the human rights of all its citizens. The second is for Chinese people to reclaim their freedom and stand side-by-side with democratic Uyghurs against the Chinese Communist Party's policies of self-preservation.

Does PR still stand for propaganda in Russia 20 years on? - Valery Levchenko, valerylev.x.iabc.com: The Soviet propaganda went into oblivion twenty years ago with the country that gave birth to it. PR as public service and not as propaganda should ideally outlive brands, products, services, companies and people behind it. PR practitioners in Russia and elsewhere should make up their mind and become political scientists or advertising experts if they prefer the ways of propaganda.

FYROM's Latest Propaganda Spree Invents 750 000 'Macedonians' in Bulgaria - novinite.com: Some 750 000 "ethnic Macedonians" are living in Bulgaria, according to the latest propaganda fit of FYROM's official institutions in Skopje. What is imagined to be formal data of the Foreign Ministry of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia was published by the Macedonian newspaper Dnevnik on Tuesday. It states that there are 750 000 "ethnic Macedonians" in Bulgaria, 700 000 in Greece, 120 000 in Albania, 85 000 in Serbia, 12 000 in Kosovo, 15 000 in Romania,

and 315 000 in Turkey. The inspiring statistics of FYROM's propaganda appear in an article entitled "Census at the Neighbors Ate Away the Macedonians". Image from article, with caption: Pictured: the monument of medieval Bulgarian Tsar Samuil opened in July 2011 in Skopje; Tsar Samuil has had his nationality changed by the Macedonian authorities who have now invested 750 000 ethnic Macedonians living in Bulgaria.

The military also warned soldiers about the dangers of the disease with an aggressive propaganda campaign that tried a variety of approaches, including patriotic appeals, racist caricatures, scare tactics, and goofy cartoons (including one drawn by the young Dr. Seuss). The campaign worked: Infection rates fell dramatically, and a healthier fighting force went on to claim victory in Europe and Asia. Image from article

Video: Quick Intro to Nazi propaganda - Healthy Persuasion: "This is the third post in the series of propaganda. Here, I’ve used Nazi propaganda as an academic case study. There is a wealth of literature about Nazi propaganda, so this is a very quick synopsis of the subject."

Website Propaganda Posters - design-fetish.blogspot.com: There’s a war on the web, and netizens are divided into three camps – Facebook, Google and Twitter.

Here's a glimpse of what one of their propaganda posters could look like!

About Me

A Princeton PhD, was a US diplomat for over 20 years, mostly in Eastern Europe, and was promoted to the Senior Foreign Service in 1997. For the Open World Leadership Center, he speaks with
its delegates from Europe/Eurasia on the topic, "E Pluribus Unum? What Keeps the United States United" (http://johnbrownnotesandessays.blogspot.com/2017/03/notes-and-references-for-discussion-e.html). Affiliated with Georgetown University (http://explore.georgetown.edu/people/jhb7/) for over ten years, he still shares ideas with students about public diplomacy.
The papers of his deceased father -- poet and diplomat John L. Brown -- are stored at Georgetown University Special Collections at the Lauinger Library. They are manuscript materials valuable to scholars interested in post-WWII U.S.-European cultural relations.
This blog is dedicated to him, Dr. John L. Brown, a remarkable linguist/humanist who wrote in the Foreign Service Journal (1964) -- years before "soft power" was ever coined -- that "The CAO [Cultural Affairs Officer] soon comes to realize that his job is really a form of love-making and that making love is never really successful unless both partners are participating."